The Beer Nut: Iron will keeps brewery kicking

Iron City Brewing Company of Pittsburgh is growing and will soon have its products on MetroWest and Milford-area store shelves for the first time in its 147-year history.

Norman Miller

Before Prohibition, regional breweries ruled the beer landscape.

Chances were good that if you lived in a certain area you drank the beer produced there such as Narragansett in New England or Schlitz in Milwaukee.

But, from 1920 to 1933, Prohibition reigned in the United States, and the banning of beer production and consumption killed off many of the large regional breweries. And most of those which made it through that dark period in beer-lover history did not survive the onslaught of the large companies, like Anheuser-Busch and Miller, and were bought, shut down or moved.

A few regional breweries did live to pour another beer, and one, the Iron City Brewing Company of Pittsburgh, is growing and will have its products on MetroWest and Milford-area store shelves for the first time in its 147-year history.

"We're a regional brewery it's a brewery you can say, 'I remember when...'," said Iron City Vice President Tony Ferraro. "People remember childhood icons, and Iron City is an icon."

Iron City CEO Tim Hickman agreed.

"Former Pittsburghers, who now call New England home, will once again be able to receive a steady supply of ICB's (Iron City Brewer) quality beers. At the same time, we are also looking forward to introducing a whole new generation of New England beer drinkers to our portfolio of fine beers."

Three Iron City beers will be locally available: the flagship Iron City, an American lager; Iron City Light, a light version of the Iron City; and Augustiner Amber Lager, a darker lager than Iron City.

Iron City's history is long and storied, but it has not always been positive.

The brewery was founded by German immigrants Edward Frauenheim and Leopold Vilsack in 1861. It is the fourth-oldest continually operated brewery in the United States.

Formerly known as the Pittsburgh Brewing Company, the brewery continued to grow through the 1800s and produced other goods throughout Prohibition to stay afloat.

"It survived the Civil War," said Ferraro. "It survived Prohibition, and it was always able to keep being a strong, regional brewery."

A lot of that has to do with Iron City introducing several new initiatives throughout the years, he said.

It was the first U.S. brewery to produce a lager; the first to use a snap-top can; and the first to have a resealable, twist-off cap.

Iron City also helped introduce the world to so-called malternatives such as Mike's Hard Lemonade or Smirnoff Ice when it released the Hop-n-Gator, which is basically beer and Gatorade blended together.

By 1977, Iron City was one of only 40 breweries left in the country. It was in financial trouble, though, until it introduced a new light beer, the IC Light, which was the first light beer brewed to be light. Brewers had been adding water to "normal" beer to make it lighter.

"Today's trend is toward craft beers, but Iron City was really the first craft brewery," Ferraro said.

However, the brewery ran into financial trouble again in the 1980s.

A local businessman bought the company, but he went to jail for fraud. Someone else bought the brewery in the late 1990s, but beer production was cut nearly in half and ownership filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

The brewery was purchased and brought out of bankruptcy by Unified Growth Partners last year and has now expanded into 22 states.

The brewery's production is also growing again. While Iron City, at its highest point, produced 31 million gallons of beer, that turnout fell sharply over the years. This year, Iron City expects to brew nearly 7 million gallons of beer.

"Our attention and our core products are big within 100 miles of the brewery, but we do a lot of business in other states for displaced Pittsburghers," Ferraro said.

Iron City beers have just hit the local market this month, and are only available at a few locations, although distributor J. Polep of Chicopee said more stores are expected to add the lineup in the next month or two.

Iron City is now available at Rte. 9 Beer & Spirits in Southborough, Main Street Market in Milford and Larry's Package Store in Bellingham.

Norman Miller is a Daily News staff writer. For questions, comments, suggestions or recommendations, e-mail nmiller@cnc.com or call 508-626-3823.Check out the Beer Nut blog at http://blogs.townonline.com/beernut/

In his quest to prove his theory that there's a beer out there for everyone - even those who think they hate beer - the Beer Nut has enlisted the help of Daily News editor Nicole Simmons. For the last three months, she has tried one beer a week, and still, the only way she can describe beer is "salty." Julio's Liquors beer manager Tom Welton had a tasting with Nicole last week at the Westborough store to teach her how to appreciate beer. And then the two tried Budweiser's Chelada, a mix of beer, Clamato, lime and salt. Hilarity ensues. Check out the videos on the Beer Nut's blog, http://blogs.townonline.com/beernut.